Chapter 383: A Windfall
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian couldn’t help but laugh when he heard the vendor’s quoted price.
Because of their unique, wild and beautiful looks, Bengal cats were sought after by some people. A few years ago, they were really expensive, but recently, due to the increase in the number of Bengal cats being bred in Northeastern China, the price had dropped. Lao San charged 50,000 yuan for one Bengal cat. Who was he trying to fool?
However, this fully-grown Bengal cat was indeed in good condition. On its golden fur were distributed large patches of horizontal markings. Its jujube pit-like pupils looked sharp and piercing. Its tail seemed strong and powerful, with annular patterns extending to the tip. Its nasal areas were not as exquisite as other ordinary house cats, but there was a protuberance on the left and right side, and had stiff whiskers like wild, ferocious beasts.
"Brother Qi, why are you thinking of buying a Bengal cat? I don’t remember you liking to raise small animals..." Snowy asked Lin Qi.
Lin Qi scratched his head, and said embarrassingly, "Well… actually, one of my friends raises a serval, and that cat looks really good. It is big and beautiful and wild, unlike those ordinary cats. We are envious of him… so I thought I should raise a cat and make others envy me too…since he raises a serval, I intend to raise a Bengal cat. I can’t raise the same breed as his. And then I heard the Bengal cats here are quite nice, so here I am."
Zhang Zian understood that Lin Qi wanted to buy a cat out of rivalry.
"Oh..." Snowy turned back to ask Zhang Zian, "Mr. Store Manager, can you help my Brother Qi determine whether this Bengal cat is worth that much?"
Lin Qi frowned. In fact, he wanted to buy this cat because the price quoted by the street vendor was relatively high. The serval that his friend bought was imported from the United States for over 200,000 yuan. If he bought a cat too cheap, he would feel like it couldn’t compare with that.
Zhang Zian couldn’t understand this rich young man’s psychology. He just honestly said, "This Bengal cat is in excellent condition... But it is not worth the price. I would say it costs at most 20,000 yuan. In fact, regardless of its condition, I do not recommend buying it. If a Bengal cat doesn’t possess a studbook, it means it is probably the first or second generation of wild Bengal cats, and will be hard to tame."
"Cut the nonsense!" snapped the street vendor Lao San, "Are you blind? My Bengal cats are so obedient and well-behaved!"
Snowy also thought that this Bengal cat was obedient. Though it looked very wild, it had been quietly lying in the iron cage, occasionally uttering a short, sharp cry, which was completely different than the meowing of ordinary cats.
Lin Qi shrugged, "A wilder cat is just what I’ve been looking for."
Zhang Zian laughed, "Wilder... hey, Snowy, have you been scratched by your Snow ball?"
Snowy tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I have been scratched once, but I didn’t bleed — only a red print was left on me."
"A Persian cat has a gentle character and limited strength, so you will be fine if it scratches you. But if you are scratched by this Bengal cat, I am afraid your skin will be torn open." said Zhang Zian. His parents' hands and wrists were covered with many scratches. They would wear special rubber gloves when bathing cats. But they didn’t wear gloves all the time, so inevitably they were scratched by cats.
The paws of a Bengal cat were much more forceful than that of a house cat.
"My cat won’t scratch people. I assure you. Look how tender it is. Why would you think it scratches?" In order to prove what he said was true, Lao San picked up a thin iron bar and knocked at the cage a few times. The Bengal cat inside was frightened, but it only moved a little bit, cried out a few times, and didn’t struggle radically.
Lin Qi turned around and looked at Zhang Zian, seeing how he was going to cope with this.
Zhang Zian silently thought for a moment, and said, "There are two possibilities. First, this Bengal cat is really tender; the second possibility is that it has taken sedative drugs like sleeping pills. I can’t tell which is the case for the time being. If the latter is true, when the efficacy has passed, it will reveal its true nature."
"Sleeping pills?" Snowy cried in surprise.
"Yes, if the vendors here can feed Pomeranians painkillers, of course they can feed Bengal cats sleeping pills." Zhang Zian said these with leeway. "But as I said earlier, I'm not 100% certain."
Bengal cats were the most important cats that needed to have studbooks. This was so they could prove that in their lineage, at least four generations of Bengal cats had been crossbred with house cats. This is because the bloodline of the wild Bengal needed to be decreased to less than 1/8 before they could become domesticated pet cats. Some Bengal cats, which came from a line that had only been crossbred one to three generations, although they looked very beautiful, would cause trouble if people bought them home.
Even Bengal cats that had become pets had the disadvantages of being too lively and liking scratching compared to other pet cats. It was basically hopeless to expect them to lie obediently on their owners’ knees and let the owners stroke them.
This Bengal cat in front of Zhang Zian was abnormally obedient. That was why he was in doubt.
"My Bengal cat did not eat sleeping pills! Who are you to talk about such nonsense!" the vendor Lao San retorted irritably.
Hearing this, Lin Qi, who had decided to buy the Bengal cat, became hesitant. After all, he just wanted to buy the cat to appear pretentious in front of his friends, but it would not be worthwhile if he got hurt.
"Is there any other handsome looking cat? It only has to be as good looking as a Bengal cat or a serval." He asked Zhang Zian, "It's okay with me even it’s expensive. Money is not a problem."
"If money is not a problem... then I have a suggestion — you can go to buy an Ashera cat. That breed is absolutely rare and looks incredibly handsome, much fancier than a Bengal cat, and should be able to meet your requirements," replied Zhang Zian.
"Ashera cat?"
Neither Snowy nor Lin Qi had heard of such a strange name, and even the angry Lao San stopped cursing and listened to him.
"Ashera cat is a newly nurtured cat breed, and it has not yet become recognized by any cat association. I am afraid that it will not be recognized in the future. This kind of cat is large and heavy, and it looks just like a small leopard. If you want to catch attention at a party in front of your friends, and money is not an issue, go buy an Ashera cat," introduced Zhang Zian.
Lin Qi suddenly was intrigued by this and asked quickly, "How can I buy one? Which places are selling them?"
"I heard that a U.S. pet company is selling them, but the supply is limited, so it’s probably not very easy to find one..." Zhang Zian suddenly got an idea. "I happen to have friends in the pet industry in the United States. Do you want me to inquire them about this?"
He was thinking of Tim and Lauren. Since they ran a professional cattery, they had probably heard of this cat breed.
Lin Qi was overjoyed. "That's great! If you can help me buy one, I am willing to pay commission. Money is not a problem!"
He came from a wealthy family, but he wasn’t well-informed on the channels of buying cats or different breeds of cats. That was why he was going to buy a Bengal Cat on his own in the dog market. Now that he had a better goal, he simply gave up this Bengal Cat that had no studbook.
"Let’s make it clear. The price of an Ashera cat is higher than a serval, so it would cost at least 200,000 yuan. If you are sure you want to buy one, you must pay a deposit first, otherwise if I painstakingly ask my friends for this favor and get one Ashera cat from the United States that you don’t end up buying, I will suffer a major loss." Zhang Zian confirmed with him again.
He found himself still underestimating the fanatical pursuit of rare animals by the heirs to rich families. No wonder the pretentious man in trench coat offered hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy an original Egyptian Mau.
"No problem," Lin Qi promised, "Since you know Snowy, I believe you. As long as you are sure that I can buy one, I will immediately transfer the total payment to you."
"Okay, deal!" Zhang Zian was so glad. He didn’t expect that by visiting the dog market, he would actually close a deal.
If this business could be done smoothly, he might purchase some rare pets from overseas and sell them to other rich heirs from wealthy families.
Pet companies in the United States had advanced genetic technologies. In recent years, several new cat breeds had indeed been developed. In addition to Ashera cat, there was also the more famous Savannah Cat. Both breeds were very expensive, so expensive that no ordinary people could afford them or raise them. They were the toys of rich people.
And China was home to so many rich people!